纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 064大卫对瓶（1）

 

064：EPISODE 64 - The David Vases 大卫对瓶

The David Vases (made in 1351). Porcelain¹; from China"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns² measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea."

The thrilling opening lines of Coleridge's opium-fuelled fantasy still send a tingle³ down the spine⁴. As a teenager I was mesmerised by this vision of exotic and mysterious pleasures, but I'd no idea that Coleridge was in fact writing about a historical figure. Because Qubilai Khan is a thirteenth-century Chinese emperor and Xanadu merely the English form of Shangdu, his Imperial summer capital. Qubilai Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan, ruler of the Mongols from 1206 and terror of the world. Wreaking⁵ havoc⁶ everywhere, Genghis Khan established the Mongol Empire - a superpower that ran from the Black Sea to the Sea of Japan and from Cambodia to the Arctic. Qubilai Khan, his grandson, extended the Empire and became Emperor of China, which leads us to the objects for this programme.

Under the Mongol emperors, China developed one of the most enduring and successful luxury products in the history of the world, a product fit for stately pleasure-domes, but which spread in a matter of centuries from grand palaces to simple parlours all over the world... it's Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. We now think of blue-and-white as quintessentially Chinese, but as we shall discover, this is not how it began. This archetypal Chinese aesthetic⁷ comes in fact from Iran.

"The fascinating thing about these vases is that they are so beautiful and mysterious, and yet they seem tremendously familiar." (Jenny Uglow)"If you say Chinese porcelain, this is what you think of - this white background and this brilliant blue colour. But it hasn't been there for ever, it was a novelty at this period." (Craig Clunas)

"The fascinating thing about these vases is that they are so beautiful and mysterious, and yet they seem tremendously familiar." (Jenny Uglow)"If you say Chinese porcelain, this is what you think of - this white background and this brilliant blue colour. But it hasn't been there for ever, it was a novelty at this period." (Craig Clunas)

大卫对瓶

瓷瓶，来自中国玉山县

公元一三五一年

忽必烈汗曾于上都

下令建造一座富丽的安乐宫：

那里圣河亚弗奔涌，穿过

深不可测的岩洞

流入暗无天日的海洋。

这是柯勒律治在吸食鸦片后的迷幻状态下所写诗歌的开篇，至今读来仍让我为之一震。十几岁初读时，这种神秘又带有异域风情的景象便深深吸引了我。但那时，我并不知道他所描述的是一位真实的历史人物。忽必烈汗是十三世纪的一位中国皇帝，英文中的“奇境”(Xanadu)一词，其实源自他的夏宫上都(Shangdu)。忽必烈是成吉思汗的孙子，后者于一二o六年称帝，其威名曾震慑全世界，其铁蹄为各处带来浩劫，其所建立的蒙古帝国的势力范围东西从黑海延伸至日本海，南北则从柬埔寨一直延展到北极圈。忽必烈则进一步扩张疆土，成了中国的皇帝。

在蒙古皇帝的统治下，中国制造出了一种在世界史上最负盛名、历久弥新的奢侈品，它的华丽不输安乐宫，在几百年的时间里传遍世界，不管是在富丽的宫殿还是在寻常人家都能看到它的身影，它便是青花瓷。如今，这种蓝、白配色已然被我们视为中国特色，但事实上并非一贯如此。这种中式审美实际上源自伊朗。

 

1 porcelain   

n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的

参考例句：

• These porcelain plates have rather original designs on them.这些瓷盘的花纹很别致。
• The porcelain vase is enveloped in cotton.瓷花瓶用棉花裹着。

2 caverns   

大山洞，大洞穴( cavern的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Within were dark caverns; what was inside them, no one could see. 里面是一个黑洞，这里面有什么东西，谁也望不见。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• UNDERGROUND Under water grottos, caverns Filled with apes That eat figs. 在水帘洞里，挤满了猿争吃无花果。

3 tingle   

vi.感到刺痛，感到激动；n.刺痛，激动

参考例句：

• The music made my blood tingle.那音乐使我热血沸腾。
• The cold caused a tingle in my fingers.严寒使我的手指有刺痛感。

4 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

5 wreaking   

诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Coal mining is a messy business, often wreaking terrible environmental damage nearby. 采矿是肮脏的行业，往往会严重破坏周边环境。
• The floods are wreaking havoc in low-lying areas. 洪水正在地势低洼地区肆虐。

6 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

7 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。